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PDFs by Industry: Using PDFs in Government and Legal

Government departments and legal agencies are constantly looking for new ways to improve the efficiency of creating and editing documents to provide to the public as well as share with clients.

With the constant risk of cyber-attacks, and the advancements that technology brings to the workplace, any document can be exposed and made vulnerable. Important government documents can be easily altered and changed according to the need of the hacker if they are not distributed in a proper and secured format.

For an electronic document to be admissible in court, it has to be created in a file format that cannot be altered without an electronic footprint. PDF files can provide this. They can manage to meet all legal requirements and can also be accepted in court.

For the protection and safety of official documentation, the government and legal sectors are now moving towards using solely PDFs as a means of communication with each other as well as the public. However, safety is not the only reason to choose PDFs. In fact, it is beneficial to use the PDF format for several reasons.

Here’s why:

PDF files are accessible

When creating a document for the government, the government agency or any company that does business with the government, you need to ensure that the documents they create meet all accessibility guidelines for people who have disabilities.

All PDF software contains tools that allow users to check for any accessibility issues that someone may encounter and even helps to fix them. As a result, the final PDF is accessible to almost anyone.

PDF files are interactive

Government documents can also require multimedia files such as audio and video clips. Even legal documents need proof of evidence that may be present on tape; for this reason, using a PDF software is usually a better choice. A PDF format allows you to add these videos and audios and it also helps to provide fillable forms that can help collect responses from people.

Word documents, on the other hand, need to be filled by first being printed out, then signed and then scanned and sent back to you which is a big hassle for all parties involved.

PDF format is universal

When creating documents using Word, anyone who receives your file must have the same software, to open it as well as the same fonts. If they don’t, then they will convert the file which can affect the document formatting, causing problems for both the receiver and the sender.

PDFs, on the other hand, have no such restrictions. You only have to create your document using a PDF software, and anyone will be able to open and read your document regardless of the device used.

PDF software is secure

When dealing with documents belonging to the government or the court, you need to make them incredibly secure so that no third party can gain access to these documents. A common word processor does allow you to password protect your documents and encrypt them, but that is all. Password protection isn’t all that effective in many cases, because there are ways to get around it.

With PDF format, you can set an open password restriction on a file and only permit authorized individuals to access it. You can also prevent people from editing or printing your file by encrypting the contents of your documents with a permissions password.

This software also allows you to redact sensitive information.

Bottom line

The top priority of both the government and the legal sector is to protect their data and to make sure that no changes occur; both of which can be achieved with PDFs.

By using tools like PDFelement, you can make use of all these tools to create more secure and accessible documents appropriate for both your clients and the public.